Ladder-base.



W. ROGERS.

LADDER BASE. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 18; 1911.

Patented Jan; 30, 1912.

INVENTOR Wizwimiflyaiir BY A TTORNEYS WITNESSES COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 1.. WASHINGTON. [L c.

WILSON ROGERS, OF MARTHA, WEST VIRGINIA.

LADDER-BASE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 18, 1911.

Patented Jan. 30, 1912.

Serial No. 603,246.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILSON RoeERs, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of Martha, in the county of Cabell and State of West Virginia, have invented a new and Improved Ladder-Base, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Among the principal objects which the present invention has in view are: to provide means operatively connected with a ladder whereby the same may be adapted for employment where the resting ground is uneven in surface; and to provide leveling or righting members for a ladder adapted to shift the perpendicular balance of a ladder.

With the stated objects in view the invention consists in providing a ladder with outwardly flared inclined bottom legs, the upper end of which legs are each engaged by a rotary member in such manner that when one of the said legs is extended the other is lifted or retracted in the body structure of the ladder.

One embodiment of the present invention is disclosed in the structure illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the views, and in which Figure 1 is a side view of a fragment of a ladder of usual construction, having applied thereto a base constructed and arranged in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section of the same, taken on the line 22 in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a. side view of a fragment of a ladder, the base being arranged to accommodate supporting ground for the ladder decidedly uneven in surface.

The ladder shown in the accompanying drawings has rails A, A and rungs B of usual construction. Replacing the two lower rungs of the ladder are cross braces 8, 8. The braces 8, 8 are preferably constructed from bar metal, spaced apart the thickness of the rails A, A, lapping the same and secured thereto by means of bolts 9, 9. Any suitable means for maintaining the interspaces between the braces 8, 8 are provided. Midway between the rails A, A and set between the braces 8, 8 is a gear wheel 10. The gear wheel 10 is provided with a shaft 11 and a hub arranged to maintain the braces 8 in proper spaced relation. The braces 8, 8 are provided as guides for the operation of the stilts 12, 12. The stilts 12, 12 are provided at the upper ends with racks 13, 13. register with the teeth of the racks 13, and are constantly engaged thereby, being held in engagement by means of bolts 14, 14 passed between the braces 8, 8 back of and in bearing relation to the stilts 12, 12. To maintain the stilts 12, 12 in the spread position there are provided bolts 15, 15. The bolts 15, 15 bear against the inner sides of the stilts 12 and hold the same outwardly against the bevel ends 16, 16 of the rails Any suitable means may be provided for turning the wheel 10 if it be desired to manipulate the said wheel to right the ladder with which the stilts are connected. Under usual conditions the stilts and wheel are permitted to run free, and to accommodate themselves to the unequal extensions of the stilts, each stilt resting in certain relative relation to the other stilt. The ladder in such a case is righted or plumbed without reference to the stilts 12, the said stilts retracting on the one side and extending 'on the other side in harmony due to the operative connection each has with the wheel 10. It will also be understood that if it be desired any suitable means may be employed for locking the wheel 10 in fixed relation to the braces 8, thus preventing the over-topping of the ladder. No such means is illustrated, as it is obvious any convenient device could be used for this purpose.

The length of the stilts 12 is a. matter of design and desire. The spread of the stilts is regulated in large degree by the length of the said stilts. The unequal spread or lateral extension from the median line of the ladder is controlled by the inequality of the supporting ground.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The combination with a ladder having rungs and side bars, the lower ends of said side bars being chamfered to form an in- The teeth of the wheel 10.

clined surface, of guide members disposed on the bottom-most of said rungs; two inclined stilts slidably mounted in said guides to be held thereby in inclined position against said inclined surfaces; racks mounted on said stilts and on the adjacent surfaces thereof; a gear Wheel rotatab'ly mounted on one of said rungs, said Wheel being meshed with both said racks, and in such 10 manner that the said stilts avoid each other when either is extended across the path of the other.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

. WILSON noenns.

\Vitnesses P. A. VALLONDENJEAN, M. C. JoHNsoN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

